Echoes from the Campfire

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on
There is always that within a man, as deeply seated as is the desire to wander—the desire for a home, for a place that belongs to oneself, a shelter away from the world.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Dark Canyon)

       “For we live before You as foreigners and temporary residents in Your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.”
                    –1 Chronicles 29:15 (HCSB)
————————————
I have made it a point in my career to study the lives of the POWs, some from World War II, but most from Vietnam.  They went through horrific trials and tortures, and through it all most of them said that there were two things that kept them going:  Faith and Hope.  In countries far from home they still believed that America would bring them home.  They had faith in the country and hope for their future.  In almost all cases they also had faith in God who would see them through the difficulties and if they did die in captivity that He would bring them to their eternal home.  Psalm 137 is a psalm of a people far from home hoping that the Lord would intervene and bring them back to their homeland.

          1 — By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
          2 — We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.
          3 — For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
          4 — How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?  (NKJV)

     This psalm shows the despair of those who suffered the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.  It is one of deeply felt emotion. (NKJV Study Bible)  John Bunyan wrote many years ago, “You that are called born of God, and Christians, if you be not criers, there is no spiritual life in you.”  There comes a point in many lives of believers where they are overcome with grief and cannot offer praise to God.  We know, as Paul often said, that we should praise God in all circumstances and trials, but sometimes a person is overcome.
     It seems that this psalm was written as they traveled back to their homeland, or were already back in Israel.  Jerusalem, the temple, the once great city of God was in ruins, what was there to sing about?  The memories of the past, Jerusalem the way it once was, added to that the bitter days of captivity.  How can one sing with that on their mind?  They put aside their harps, their instruments having no use for them.  There would be no singing in Babylon.
     Verse 3 seems to indicate that they were taunted by their masters:  “Sing, sing,” they demanded.  “Sing the songs of your homeland.”  Then they must have laughed knowing the condition of the captives.  Many refused to sing on the basis that they were in a foreign land, a place of unclean soil.  Many did not have hope and it is hard to sing when hope is missing.  “Making joyful music to the Lord in a foreign land was so difficult that the captives refused to make music at all.” (NKJV Study Bible)
     There was another issue.  Many of the Jews were satisfied living in Babylon.  Some were living better than they had before the captivity.  Many “had married Babylonian spouses and become assimilated into Babylonian culture.  They had forgotten Jerusalem.” (William J. Petersen)  Song, what songs?  They had forgotten therefore they knew not the songs of Zion.
     This should bring us to the present.  We need to take a good, hard look at our own lives.  Christians are to look to heaven as their home, our Jerusalem.  Yes, we haven’t been there, as many of the Israelites who were born in a foreign land had never been to Jerusalem.  We have a choice:  to moan, to forget, to not have hope, or to rejoice and praise the Lord despite our being away.  Perhaps it is sin that darkens your vision, faith, and hope.  Robert Murray McCheyne said, “Every true Christian loves praise.  But when the believer falls into sin and darkness, his lyre is on the willows, and he cannot sing the Lord’s song, for he is in a strange land.”
     It would do us good to remember that we are pilgrims on this earth.  This world is not our home, we’re only passing through.  Are we too comfortable in our “Babylon” here on earth?  Maybe you think, “Heaven, a nice thought, but I don’t really have time to think of it.”  Remember!  Remember that we are in exile, pilgrims in a foreign land waiting for the Lord to come and take us home.  Do not lose hope; never let your faith falter.  Be like Paul and Silas and dare to sing praises while in prison, the prison of this earth.  Be like this psalmist who knows “he can’t let his mouth go dry; he must not let the negative memories of captivity overwhelm his memories of joy.” (George Wood)

          “A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
          They’re building a palace for me over there;
          Though exiled from home, yet still I may sing:
          ‘All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.'”
                  –Harriett E. Buell

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

The devil allows you to get comfortable, then all of a sudden he’ll strike you down.”
                    –D.C. Adkisson  (Return From Tincup)

       “Remember the great terrors the Lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes!  And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear.”

                    –Deuteronomy 7:19 (NLT)
————————————-
     I would urge you to read Isaiah 44:9-20 this morning.  These verses show the foolishness, the stupidity of idols.  Look at verses 9 and 10:  “Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit; they are their own witnesses; that neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.  Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?” (NKJV)  The answer – only a fool.  The CEB translates verse 9 this way:  “Idol-makers are all as nothing; their playthings do no good. Their promoters neither see nor know anything, so they ought to be ashamed.”  If these people would take the time to look at what they were doing logically they would be ashamed of their foolishness.  The NKJV Study Bible states regarding this, “When all people come face to face with God, it will be a day of shame for those who rejected Him in this life.”  
     This is not just for the day of Isaiah.  There are plenty of idols in our world today, and I’m not speaking of ju-ju, voodoo, or Hinduism.  People worship their cars,, their fishing poles, their phones and music-boxes.  Some have made idols of entertainers and athletes making them, in their mind, almost super little gods.  Isaiah continues in verse 15, “Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.” (NKJV)  Using the same wood for the idol with which he warms himself and cooks over he falls down and worships it.  Hmmm, worship an entertainer who is found dead by drug overdose or suicide–what kind of god is that?  Isaiah continues to look at the foolishness in verse 17, “And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image.  He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!'” (NKJV)  Madness, in fact God says if they want to act the fool and believe that way, so be it.  He will allow them to do as they wish, “They do not know nor understand; for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.” (44:18, NKJV)  God allows them to go their own way, do their own thing.
     Now turn your attention to the action of Jesus found in John 8:6.  “…But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.” (NKJV)  We don’t know what He wrote but there was the power of conviction as he wrote with His finger.  Chad Bird writes, “With all of who He is, down to His very finger-tips, the Lord is creating, teaching, and redeeming.”  Why didn’t He speak to them; why did He use just the tip of His finger to bring conviction?  Ponder that.
     In Exodus, chapter 8, we see the Pharaoh’s magicians competing with the God of Moses.  It was after the third plague of lice.  The magicians could not match the God of might and power.  They tried to conjure up lice but they failed.  Turning to Pharaoh, they proclaimed to him, “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.'” (8:19, NKJV).  Just His finger brought forth the plagues.  What will happen when he turns loose His wrath?  Will He just use His finger?
     Look at the power in God’s fingers!  Psalm 8:3 states, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.” (NKJV)  The next time you look up at the sky at night and behold the stars or gaze into the heavens, think that it was done just by God’s fingers.  No wonder David expressed, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?…  O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (8:4, 9, NKJV)
     Here is a little experiment for you to try.  Find a rock or just use the sidewalk, and with just your finger write your name etching it deep into the rock.  Is there trouble with the engraving?  Maybe scrap a little skin off the tip of your finger?  We see this in Exodus 31:18, “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” (NKJV)
     The strength, the power of His finger.  Now imagine the grip of His hand–the one in which He holds you and me firmly.  No one, no being can remove us from the grip.  Think of Him reaching down when you’re down in the mire, the pit, the slough and know that His grip is sure.  He will not release you.  If there is power in His finger what is the power of His hand?  Add to that the strength of His arms!  WOW!  Why do we then fear as we go through life?  We have a heavenly Father who is there to take care of us; to fight off the bullies of the demonic forces.  Know that He is there, with a strong arm and a firm grip.
(thanks to Chad Bird for stirring up my thoughts regarding the “finger of God”).

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

We live our whole lives, and towards the end, you realize all my success means nothing without leaving a legacy to be remembered.”
                    –Kenneth Pratt  (Hollister)

       “But how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his advice.”
                    –Psalm 106:13 (CEB)
——————————-
          3.1 — My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands;
            .2 — For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.  (NKJV)

          3.1 — My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
            .2 — for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.  (ESV)

     It is vital to a successful life that we learn God’s truth and obey it.  As Warren Wiersbe states, “It isn’t enough for believers to carry the Bible in their hands; they must let the Holy Spirit write it on their hearts.  Obedience to the Word can add years to your life and life to your years.”  In Proverbs, “We are here taught to live a life of communion with God.” (Matthew Henry)  The Bible is required to adhere to if we are to truly develop a Christian worldview for our life.  The words of Francis Schaeffer ring true, “True spirituality covers all of reality.”  
     Our steps are to be order to and by the Word of God.  Two terms should be emphasized:  “do not forget,” where the emphasis is actually “always remember.”  The term “keep” means “to look hard at,” or “to watch over.”  This implies a disciplined, attentive life.  “If we can learn to be obedient to the will of God we will find that life becomes a little easier to live, and a lot more fulfilling.  Life ceases to be such a struggle, and it becomes a joy.”  (Dan Dick)  Paul writes to the church at Colossae, “…to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:9-10, NKJV)  Know and understand the truth of God is vital then; He is willing to share with His children.  Dan Dick writes, “Our God is a God of order and sense.  He knows infinitely more than we can ever hope to, and He shares His knowledge with us to help us through our lives.”
     Memory, the internalization of God’s Word into our minds and heart is vital in keeping God’s commands.  Someone said that, “Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral character.”  Paul tells us to “hold fast that word…” (1 Corinthians 15:2)  “When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not forsake the character.”  Our minds must be fixed–focused on the Word of God.  The Psalmist said, “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (119:11, NKJV)  We must make a determined effort to prepare our hearts and then to obey.  We read about Ezra, the priest, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10, NKJV)  Do not think this is only Old Testament, for Jesus states, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…” (John 14:23, NKJV).
     Focus, discipline, obey are all key to knowing and not forgetting, and keeping the Word of the Lord.  Memory depends a great deal on attention to what God says.  The theologian Ralph Wardlaw speaks to the important of giving attention to God’s Word, “He who feel no interest will not attend, and he who does not attend will not remember.”  The whole heart should desire the Word of God, the mind should attentively seek it, and then the total person should readily act upon it.  Can a person call themselves a Christian if there is not sincere interest in communion with God?  
     There will be a wonderful blessing for those who keeps God’s Word.  It could be inferred that prosperity awaits–but understand, prosperity does not necessarily mean rich in the things of the world.  It goes much deeper than that.  The Christian has new life–that is true prosperity.  Bob Beasley points out several means of spiritual prosperity:  “no longer slaves to disobedience, no longer separated from the love of God; no longer under the bondage of guilt, or fear, or the law.  No longer do we walk under the shadow of eternal death.”  Think of the deeper meaning of “length of days.”  Eternity is a long time.  “He asked you for life, and you gave it to him, all right–long days, forever and always!” (Psalm 21:4, CEB)  I like what the Scottish minister, William Arnot says, “Submission to His will is the best condition for humanity.”  
     I would then ask:  Why should we not follow the instructions of our Father if we are indeed His children?  Why would be purposely be disobedient children?  The Father most certainly knows what is good and best for us.

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

 “There was right and there was wrong. You did what was right and didn’t do what was wrong.”

                    –C.J. Petit  (Virgil’s Herd)

       “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

                    –Matthew 3:12 (NKJV)
————————————-
     Lloyd Ogilvie sets the stage for this last chapter of Amos.  “We behold God who makes and keeps His promises.  He follows through on His promises of judgment as well as His subsequent promises of a new beginning.  His righteousness and grace are inseparable.”

          9.1 — I saw the LORD standing by the altar, and He said:  “Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake, and break them on the heads of them all.  I will slay the last of them with the sword.  He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
            .2 — Though they dig into hell, from there My hand shall take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down;
            .3 — And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them; though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
            .4 — Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them.  I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.” (NKJV)

     Amos’ fifth vision is God–the promise-keeper.  Amos is at the altar.  This should have been the place of repentance.  It was to be a place of mercy and atonement.  Instead, however, it was the place of compromise and apostasy; it was a place now desecrated and God will strike it down.  It is fitting that Amos gives forth his vision from there.  “The altar of vision symbolized the rotten core of an apostate people….  The result is that the altar, the temple, and the nation itself will be destroyed.”  (Ogilvie)
     Ogilvie continues his discourse saying the temple will be shaken.  “The judgment of the Lord, which begins with the temple, will pervade the land…   The distortion of their worship of God had permeated the heart of the nation…  Everything was wrong because the nation was not right with God.”  Judgment begins in the sanctuary; no one will escape.  “There is no hiding place from the chastening hand of God, laid on men because of their willful persistent sins.” (Garner)  It will do us well to contemplate this as now, “we are the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19)  Therefore, do not grieve the Spirit.  Jesus declared, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34, NKJV)  “There is no standing before His sword” (Matthew Henry) therefore be sure that you are standing on the side of the Lord so that His righteous sword will not smite you.
     “True security is submitting to God’s authority, committing each day to discern and do His will, accepting His corrective judgment, and claiming His forgiveness.” (Ogilvie).  Israel had long ignored God, refusing to acknowledge their sins and then to repent.  Like so many today, there is the presumption of God’s grace thinking that He will never hold them accountable.
     Open your ears, hear the Word of the Lord–now is the day of salvation; when judgment comes there is no escape.  Ask the souls of Noah’s day, ask those who reaped the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Even those who try to hide in Sheol, the place of the dead, will be found, there will be no protection.  Is this a glimpse of the Great White Throne when hell will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.  When God searches there is no hiding place.  The judgment will be as described in Revelation, “…every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!'” (6:15-16, NKJV)  The rock cannot hide; death is not an escape from the fires of eternity.
     The people rejected the warnings; they rejected the opportunity to repent; they rejected the covenant–they rejected God.  Now it is too late.  Peter C. Craigies says, “One can never earn the privilege of God’s grace, but nor can one abandon its responsibilities without denying the privilege itself.”  The final words of verse four, “I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good,” should cause the unrepentant to tremble.